Plot: What’s it about?
Francis and Blake Falls are conjoined twins. This means they spend every minute of every day together, never to be apart. They eat together, they sleep together, anything they do, they do together. Conjoined, or Siamese twins are very rare, and the public has a way of seeing them as freaks, not the real people they are. As such, Francis and Blake don’t venture out much, so that they elude the eye of a judgmental and cruel public. As alike as they are, they do share some differences. The foremost difference is the fact that while Blake seems healthy enough, Francis is not as well, with a weaker heart. The film opens with the brothers celebrating their birthday, and deciding to treat themselves to something rarely seen in their reclusive lives, a girl. Not just a regular girl though, a very attractive prostitute. The girl however, has no idea her clients are conjoined, so you can imagine her reaction. Of course, she runs away from them at first, but slowly makes her way back into their room. She actually starts to get to know them, and enters into a relationship of sorts with them, focusing on Blake. Together, the three explore areas of the Falls’ lives they never dreamed would be explored. All the while however, Francis is getting worse and worse in his condition. Just how interlinked are the two?
Twin Falls Idaho is not a movie for everyone to watch. There’s nothing twisted or disgusting about it, and the storyline is simple enough, but it’s certainly not for most people. The reason? Well, the film runs around an hour and fifty minutes, but to a good number of viewers, it will seem like eternity. The movie has a very slow, deliberate pace, but not in the sense that the story is complex and needs the time to reveal it’s details. It’s just slow moving, I can’t for the life of me understand why. The movie has a depressing, somber tone, so perhaps the plodding pace is to support that style of tone, but I don’t think that’s the case. The movie tries to appear far more complex than it really is, and the viewers suffer for it. Had the pacing been a little faster, or the story actually been complex enough to warrant all the dead air, I would have been fine. However, the movie just does not need this much time, it could move faster and fit the same ideas into an hour and a half, without losing anything. Twenty minutes may not seem like much, but in a film, it’s a lifetime. By no means am I saying the movie is not watchable, it’s just that viewers with short to moderate attention spans will tire of this one rather quickly. The movie is good, but it’s not what I expected. I went into the film thinking complex story, unusual characters, but I got neither. If you want this style movie with some good pacing and deep characters, check out Dead Ringers.
While the directing and pacing of the film left much to be desired, the acting is better, at least in one case. Michele Hicks is the true star of this movie, giving a very nice portrayal of the hooker, filling her character with wonder and fascination. While it might be the comparison of her company in the film, I think Hicks has a solid future ahead of her, and can’t wait to see her in other films. Now, just like their directing, the acting of real life twins (not really conjoined) Mark and Michael Polish tries to be excellent, but falls short of the waterline. It seems like they are forcing everything, trying to give an edge to their roles, but it never works. Hopefully, they won’t return in front of the camera anytime soon. At least if they only direct, I’m only subjected to their mediocrity once per movie. I know I was harsh on the movie, but I think it tried to hard to come off as unusual or out there. In fact, it’s just another run of the mill picture that tries to mimic the styles of directors like David Cronenberg and David Lynch.
Video: How does it look?
The disc’s visual presentation is top notch, with a nice 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. You full frame fanatics are out of luck on this however, no pan and scan is available. The movie has an earthy visual style, so the colors are usually muted, but again that’s intentional. The black levels are key to the movie, since the scenes are usually dark in tone, and every shadow looks perfect. There is no detail loss at all, and shadow layering is excellent. The print itself is in decent condition, with few wear signs, and the disc is free of compression problems as well.
Audio: How does it sound?
Columbia included two audio track on this disc, a 5.1 track as well as a stereo surround option. Of course, I used the 5.1 track for this review, and it sounds good, but the audio is not the focus. one of the film’s bright spots is the score, which fits the movie’s tone well, and sounds rich on this track. The surrounds will not be alive much while you watch, so don’t invite friends over to showcase your system on that night. Dialogue is the focus, and it sounds very good, with excellent clarity and separation factors.
Supplements: What are the extras?
You get three bonus trailers, but no trailer for this actual movie. Strange, eh? You also get some minor talent files, liner notes, and a running commentary with the Polish brothers. The commentary is even more boring than the movie, and these guys talk they are Martin Scorsese. If you like the movie a lot, you’ll enjoy the commentary.
